From left, the museum’s director Dick Leet, Jerry Caralstadt and Art Brandeberry, who is holding “Spring Tryout” by Thomas Hart Benton, in 1982. Photo courtesy of the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum
MacNider Art Museum houses a variety of artwork and has a distinctly American heritage
By John Skipper
It is no wonder that the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum in Mason City focuses its attention on American art and features paintings, sculptures and even world-renowned puppets, all crafted by Americans.
The museum, part of Mason City’s “cultural crescent,” is adjacent to the Mason City Public Library; across the street from The Music Man Square complex honoring native son Meredith Willson; and not far from the recently-restored Park Inn Hotel, the last remaining hotel designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
It is part of “a wonderful arts environment,” as Museum Director Edith Blanchard points out, and it is exactly that kind of environment that the museum strives to create for all who visit.
Encircled by cultural icons in the history of the city, the museum has a proud history of its own, with a distinctly American heritage. It sits on land donated by the MacNider family, whose patriarch, Brig. Gen. Hanford MacNider, was a decorated American soldier, statesman and businessman.
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